Senior counsel Harish Salve, whose name appeared in the so-called Panama Papers leak of more than 11 million financial documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, published in India by the Indian Express, told Legally India that including his name was unfair, since his use of a British Virgin Islands-based (BVI) shell company was legal and transparently declared in his tax returns.

From Monday, 9 March 2015, a special Supreme Court bench comprising of two seasoned tax hands, Justice AK Sikri and Justice RF Nariman, began exclusively hearing and deciding tax cases from Monday to Friday.

Daruwalla has over 27 years of experience practicing in the Bombay high court and tax tribunals, after graduating from GLC Mumbai. He began his career with Crawford Bayley and moved on to the chambers of Atul Setalvad before going independent.

Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) RC Lahoti is now arbitrator on the international arbitration between Vodafone and the Indian government under the India-Netherlands bilateral treaty, to decide validity of the Rs 27,000 crore tax demand from Vodafone, reported the PTI.

The finance ministry’s decision to appoint Lahoti was in response to notice served by Vodafone for arbitration under the treaty.

Exclusive: Ex-Amarchand Mangaldas tax head Aseem Chawla has started a tax, business and corporate advisory law firm called MPC Legal with two co-founding partners, as the “best friend” firm of chartered accountancy (CA) firm Mohinder Puri & Co.

Exclusive: Economic Laws Practice (ELP) Mumbai indirect tax associate partner Ritesh Kanodia resigned last month after more than six years at the firm, to start up an independent tax practice of two or more partners.

A corollary of the Rule of Law is that legislation with retrospective effect is highly dubious, argues Kian Ganz. The latest budget proposals to tax offshore transactions going back to 1962, is a worrying sign of the kind of country India wants to be.

The Union Budget’s plan to tax Vodafone’s Indian Hutch takeover and similar transactions retrospectively going back to 1962 is unconstitutional and would not pass scrutiny of the courts, said Dutt Menon Dunmorrsett Mumbai-based partner Fereshte Sethna, who represented Vodafone in its Rs 11 crore ($2.4bn) dispute with the tax office in the Mumbai High Court and the Supreme Court.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) and Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) analysed the legal implications of the Vodafone judgment yesterday – a decision law firms across the board commended for boosting India’s image as an investment destination, upholding the rule of law and settling many questions.

11:00am The Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s 2011 India Union budget has just started after having been approved by cabinet. This blog will begin in earnest once the budget is over and we can get reactions from lawyers. In the meantime, IBN Live has a nice live blog page with a fast video and text updates. Please post your comments and thoughts on the budget below in the meantime.

Following yesterday’s Bombay High Court victory against Vodafone and Hutchison in their potentially $2bn tax bill appeal, the Income Tax Department’s acting chairman Sudhir Chandra told the Business Standard: “[Income Tax] Department's position stands vindicated. It is a clear cut case of deliberate non-compliance to law on misplaced legal advice. This [Vodafone case] is a test case, we will look at similar cases. There are already some cases under investigation.

Yesterday's Bombay High Court decision that the tax authorities are permitted to assess Vodafone for its Indian tax liability in its acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa in 2007, means that previous and future foreign investments into India would face legal uncertainty, according to tax and corporate lawyers.